“What?” I question.

“I can scent your arousal filling the air, just like the last time at the hotel bar. Despite the havoc your pheromones play on my body, I will not again be tricked into sharing your bed. If this is your intention before you leave, it is wrong.” He reaches down to adjust his thick cock through the black fabric which I can tell is growing in his pants. He points out the window. “They are out there to protect me from you, but I assume they are also protecting you from me.”

My face heats up because it’s true that images of our last encounter continue to fly through my head and that space between my thighs that only he fills the best is heating up too. Plus, it breaks my heart that he thinks I tricked him. “You think I tricked you?”

He crooks an eye ridge. “You are the one who suggested we go to my room. Then you left the very next morning after I’d pleasured you many times. What else would I think?”

“I was drunk. I didn’t know…”

“Don’t… I don’t want to hear the excuses. I only want to know why you finally decided to return.”

His words land like sandbags, but I lift my chin and manage to carry on. “I am here to bring the boys because you need to meet them. Their names are Bran and Owen.”

“You named them without me?”

“Yes, your father said that too, like it’s weird. Of course I named them. What else was I supposed to do, just say ‘hey you’ for the first three months of their lives?”

“You were supposed to remain at my side so that I could be there for my sons’ growth and birth and name them.”

“Orc fathers always name their sons?”

“Yes, this is the custom since ancient times. You named them without me but I do approve of their names so we will not change them.” He crosses his massive green arms. “Why did you give birth to my sons without me in attendance?”

I twirl my hair. “Um, I couldn’t find you.”

“You found me now. Why couldn’t you find me a few months ago? What has changed?”

I wince and decide to tell him the truth. “I…I thought I could raise them by myself. But then I learned they weren’t thriving without you there, so I hired a private investigator to find you and now I’m here.”

He takes a step closer, his face clouded with anger. “You could have remained with me here at the commune during your pregnancy and I would have been with the twins from day one and neither of them would have known a moment’s distress.” He pauses and backs away and runs his thick fingers through his hair. “Where were you living this whole time when you hid from me? I went to the lobby trying to find you after you left, but I didn’t even know your name.” He looks out the windows again. “I could not go after you. Modern law dictates that orcs cannot search for Brides or sons who’ve rejected them and live in human communities. If you’ve wondered why I didn’t track you down, this is why. I had to wait for you to return on your own.”

“I never go into bars by myself and pick up guys but…it just seemed necessary that night. I had two drinks and realized I was a total lightweight. Then you arrived and I was bolder than ever before because of those drinks. I don’t know what happened to me, but yes, I did pretty much attack you and asked you to have sex with me. This is true. The next morning, I left you snoring in your bed and went back to mine to clean up and finish packing. Then I caught a prearranged flight back home to California. I was on that airplane probably three hours after I left your bed. That was why you couldn’t find me. I wasn’t even in the state any longer. I live on the other side of the country.”

“Why did you leave? I did my best to make sure you were pleasured. Why didn’t you decide to change your plans after meeting me and choose to stay?”

I wring my hands. “Whelan, you were scary. And you were coming on too strong. You called me your Bride. And you said you were going to kidnap me and take me to your cabin and keep me there.”

“I didn’t say that. It wasn’t even the dark of winter. I was acting reasonable. I did not kidnap you and instead gave you pleasure and filled you with my seed. It was a perfect orc mating. I treated you with respect and made you my Bride.”

“Maybe I didn’t want to be anyone’s Bride? And you were scary. You threatened to kidnap me and drag me off by the hair. You were half asleep when you said it, but you still scared the hell outta me, like you had a secret plan I didn’t know about until then.”

“There was no secret plan. I was breeding you. This whole time I’ve known I’ve had a pregnant female out there and that you were carrying my growing offspring and giving birth and I didn’t know what was happening with my son. I was going insane.”

“I’m so sorry, Whelan. I didn’t know you were trying to breed me. I thought we were having a fabulous one-night stand and I was on birth control. When I left, I thought there was zero chance of me being pregnant. And later when I did become pregnant, I thought only I knew about it and was making decisions and you had no idea. I didn’t know your name and you didn’t know mine because to me it made the hook up mysterious and sexy. I didn’t know where you lived. I knew nothing. I finally had to hire a private investigator to find you.”

“Why didn’t you try to find me the moment you knew you were pregnant? Why did you wait until now when my sons are three months old?”

“I learned that Bran and Owen need you.”

“It was my right to know of my offspring as soon as you knew.”

Tears spring to my eyes because he’s right. I stand and pace the room. “You’re right,” I say. “It was wrong of me. You did have the right to know about your children the moment I learned I was pregnant. I’m sorry. In my defense, most one-night stands between humans don’t result in the man wanting commitment. Most men would be happy that I was carrying on and leaving them out of it and they didn’t have to financially support the babies. And also I was still worried that you wanted to kidnap me. What if I returned to you and you tried to harm me?”

A growl rumbles in his chest. “That doesn’t make any sense. I didn’t threaten to kidnap you and you were never going to be harmed. I’m not human. And that wasn’t a one-night stand. Orcs don’t pleasure mate.”

“I’m not lying. You did threaten to kidnap me. And I didn’t know that orcs don’t pleasure mate, but I know it now.”

“You can’t raise orcs without their father.”

“I didn’t know that until I read a book by an orc named Alden Overlook. I learned so much then and learned how I didn’t understand what was happening that night.”

“You read Alden’s book? I’m glad you finally educated yourself,” he says stiffly, with a hint of sarcasm. “Well, you’ve done the right thing, leaving them with me now. You can leave tomorrow morning. I will care for them.”

“What? This is what your father said too. Whelan, I’m not leaving Bran and Owen behind. I’m here to stay. Where they go, I go. If they need to remain on this commune with you then I’m here too. They’re still breastfeeding—they need me.”

He crooks an eye ridge at me, obviously skeptical. “There are a few other human females on the commune who would gladly feed the babies too. You do not have to stay out of a sense of misplaced responsibility. We are used to orc babies being dropped off by human females. Sometimes they drop off babies to the wrong commune, but we still take them in and adopt them if we’re unable to locate the father in another tribe. Again, you are free to go. You do not need to stay. I am grateful that you did not terminate the pregnancy and that you gave birth to my sons and provided them care. Your obligation is now over.”

“Obligation? No, I love my babies. I’m telling you, I’m not leaving without them.”

He inhales deep. “Why are you really here, Drew Reilly? I can still scent your arousal. You want to pleasure mate with me and leave again? I already told you that isn’t going to happen.”